Saturday, February 11, 2017

KOM: There Will Be A New King At Le Tour De Langkawi

PUTRAJAYA : The second most popular jersey at the Tour de France after the yellow one of race leader is the polka dot, as general public is amazed by the climbers. Le Tour de Langkawi might be most famous for its sprinting competition but the King of the Mountains is always praised for its achievements as well.

Recently awarded with the ultimate recognition for SMEs as one of the fastest moving companies in Malaysia, Maxxima Health Sciences (M) Sdn Bhd (Maxxima) through its multi-award winning product (CellMaxx®) made a bold move to support The Ministry of Youth and Sports by sponsoring the King of the Mountain jersey for Le Tour de Langkawi (LTDL) 2017.

Since the inception of Le Tour de Langkawi in 1996, Maxxima had become the first network marketing company with the biggest amount of contribution to become the main sponsor for one of the world’s most prestigious cycling event. The company had gone even further to show its support and commitment by sponsoring the Malaysia National Team as well.

“Malaysian hills are known as talent’s detectors. As such we believe handing the King of the Mountain jerseys to their daily and overall winner is a symbolic presentation of our appreciation to the talent for their achievements in becoming the first cyclist to reach the highest altitude of the race and at maximum efforts on every route”, said the Chief Technology & Marketing Officer of Maxxima, Saiffil Fariz Mohamad Yusuff.

“Maxxima allocated RM10 million for branding purposes this year. Contributing to the success of LTdL 2017 is within our direction to introduce CellMaxx® as sports nutrition drink while upholding our minister’s vision, YB Khairy Jamaludin to better the lifestyle and future of the youth & young generation to the max, hence the company’s brand name, Maxxima”

In 21 editions, only three riders have won it twice: Colombia’s Ruber Marin and José Serpa, both racing for Gianni Savio’s team now called Androni, and China’s Wang Meiyin who has set a benchmark for Asian cycling in the recent history of the Malaysian race.

“Wang’s move to the WorldTour with Bahrain-Merida and his fame in general have a lot to do with the climber’s reputation he built for himself by being the King of the Mountains at our race in 2013 and 2016”, said the CEO of Le Tour de Langkawi Emir Abdul Jalal.

“He fought for every point up for grab, in the short third category climbs as well as in Genting Highlands and in the Cameron Highlands where he also won the stage in 2013. Malaysian hills are talent’s detectors.”

Interestingly, the KOM competition has been won by Colombian cyclists only five times so far. It means it’s open to more cyclists than the pure climbers. However, they’ll line up in Kuala Terengganu on February 22 as hot favorites this time around. Pro Continental Colombian outfit Manzana-Postobon has designated Fernando Orjuela and Bernardo Suaza for their Asian trip from Bogotà.

Savio will be back with three excellent Colombian climbers: Rodolfo Torres, a favorite for the overall, prodigy Egan Bernal and 19 year old Ivan Sosa who surprised a few observers by coming seventh overall in the Vuelta Tachira in Venezuela last month. Daniel Jaramillo who finished second overall at LTdL last year will be back with Unitedhealthcare.

“In any case, we’ll have a new face as King of the Mountains as none of the previous winners will be on the start list”, Emir noted. “They have either quit cycling or moved to teams that won’t be coming to Le Tour de Langkawi this year. It’ll make an interesting competition and I’m sure some Asians will target it as well.”

Organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia and managed by Ciclista Sports Sdn Bhd, the 22nd edition of Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) from 22 February to 1 March, 2017 is set to cover more than 1,200km over 8 stages, the UCI 2.HC (hors category) race featuring again as one of the biggest events on the UCI Asia Tour calendar.

CellMaxx® was brought into the market early in 2014. It received tremendous support from the market and gain substantial momentum of consumers’ growth within months. In 2015 CellMaxx® received the Asia Pacific Top Golden Brand Products Award. The company made a history in 2016 when it became the first ever network marketing company in the world to brand their product on a plane livery whilst choosing Air Asia as their brand partner.

“This year we are gearing to supply market’s demand for sports nutrition drinks with a new product under CellMaxx® lines of products. It will be in liquid form in bottles that will make it easier and faster to consume.”

CellMaxx® with its green brand color will surely enliven the competition and make this year’s edition of Le Tour de Langkawi greener.